Sport Today

Scotland play Ireland in a full Rugby League International
at the Firhill ground (home of Partick Thistle FC) in
Glasgow on Tuesday 6th August; kick off 7.30 p.m.

This is only the second meeting of these two countries; the
previous meeting was at the Royal Dublin Showground on
13th August 1995 when Ireland won 26-22.

It is also only the third senior International Rugby League
match to be played in Scotland.  The previous two were in
1909 when England drew with Australia 17-17 and 1911 when
Great Britian drew with Australia 11-11.

Both countries performed well in last years Emerging Nations
World Cup with Scotland beating Russia 34-9 and USA 38-16
but losing to the Cook Islands 10-21. Ireland beat Moldova
48-26 and Morocco 42-6 but lost in the final to the Cook
Islands 22-6.

The Emerging Nations tournament restricted teams to five
professionals in the squad and three in any match.  However
no restrictions apply to this match and both nations have
selected strong squads.

The Scottish squad is:

Alan Tait  (captain, former Scottish RU international, 4 tries
         in Emerging Nations World Cup, professional with Leeds)
Alisdair Blee  (2 tries in ENWC)
Jimmy Cowans  (Oldham Bears ?)
Sean Cusack
Billy Gamba
Scott Gilmore
Mark Keenan  (Workington Town ?)
Martin Ketteridge  (1 try in ENWC, qual. by birth, Halifax)
Andy Knight
Nick Mardon
Terry Matterson  (qual. by grandparent, London Broncos)
Duncan McRae  (qual. by grandparent, London Broncos)
Lee Milner  (Huddersfield Giants)
Gary Murdock  (Whitehaven ?)
Danny Russell  (Carlisle Border Raiders)
Darren Shaw  (London Broncos)
Darrall Shelford  (3 tries in ENWC, Huddersfield Giants)
Jason Sims
Graeme Thompson  (1 try and 7 goals in ENWC)

Coaches: George Fairbairn and Billy McGinty

The Irish Squad:

Andy Burgess  (Salford Reds)
Leo Casey  (1 try in ENWC, qual. by birth, Featherstone Rovers)
Lee Child  (Wakefield Trinity ?)
Martin Crompton  (1 try in ENWC, Oldham Bears)
Bernard Dwyer  (qual. by grandparent, Bradford Bulls)
Mark Forster  (Warrington)
Lee Hanlan  (Hunslet Hawks)
James Lowes  (Bradford Bulls)
Seamus McCallion  (qual. by birth)
David Moffatt
Sean Wyville
nine more selected from the three recent North v. South
Ireland matches.

Coaches: Niel Wood and Mick Slicker

Predictions?  Evenly matched side but home advantage might tell.

All the best
--
John
The Yorkshire motto updated:  Hear all, see all, say nowt;
Eat all, sup all, pay nowt; Read all, lurk all, post nowt;
And if tha'ever do's owt for nowt allus do it for thi'sen.

Andy

: Scotland play Ireland in a full Rugby League International
: at the Firhill ground (home of Partick Thistle FC) in
: Glasgow on Tuesday 6th August; kick off 7.30 p.m.

For anyone considering going to the match - it may be useful to know that
Firhill is NOT in Partick and is closer to Maryhill! It is situated just off
the A81 - the nearest junction off the M8 is J17
I will be there and am looking forward to my first real live match since
Wembley!

Graham

Result of the Second Scotland/Ireland Rugby League
international.

Scotland 26 Ireland 6

Attendance: 1,147

Try scorers: Tait, Russell, Shaw, Shelford and Mardon
             for Scotland; Hanlan for Ireland.

Teams:
Scotland:                       Ireland:

Tait (Leeds)                    Foy (Killarney)
Cowan (Oldham Bears)            Comerford (Dublin Blues)
Shelford (Huddersfield Giants)  Child (Wakefield Trinity)
Mardon (Boroughmuir)            Hanlan (Hunslet Hawks)
Thompson (Edinburgh)            Gordon (Bangor Vikings)
Crowther (Sheffield Eagles)     Garth (Dublin Blues)
Keenan (Workington Town)        Crompton (Oldham Bears)
Gamba (Aberdeen)                Casey (Swinton Lions)
Russell (Carlisle)              McCallion (Bramley)
Ketteridge (Halifax)            Dwyer (Bradford Bulls)
Shaw (London Broncos)           Moffatt (Hull)
Milner (huddersfield Giants)    Burgess (Salford Reds)
Cusack (Carlisle)               Lowes (Bradford Bulls)

Subs:
Blee (Loughborough)             Doyle (Dublin Blues)
Gilmour (Dundee Institute)      Cleary (Dublin Blues)
Simes (Heriot's)                Wyville (Skirlaugh)
Murdock (Workington Town)       Kennedy (Belfast Buccaneers)

London Bronco's Matterson and McRea withdrew from
Scottish side due to injuries.

All the best
--
John
The Yorkshire motto updated:  Hear all, see all, say nowt;
Eat all, sup all, pay nowt; Read all, lurk all, post nowt;
And if tha'ever do's owt for nowt allus do it for thi'sen.

Adam

I got talking to someone from the Scottish RL, and he told me that
both Thistle and Clydebank were quite keen to share with a pro RL team
if one starts up here. The main problem seems to be the Forth-Clyde
Canal, which runs on a hillside above the ground and leaks, thereby
turning the pitch into a quagmire every winter, so early season games
could be tricky.

: >>Result of the Second Scotland/Ireland Rugby League
: >>international.
: >>
: >>Scotland 26 Ireland 6
: >>
: >>Attendance: 1,147

: >This morning's Yorkshire Post reports "a desperately disappointing crowd
: >of little more than 100". Anyone know where the two figures come from?

Bear in mind that the Yorkshire Post has only a lightly better record on
spelling than The Grauniad.

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: >Result of the Second Scotland/Ireland Rugby League
: >international.
: >
: >Scotland 26 Ireland 6
: >
: >Attendance: 1,147

: This morning's Yorkshire Post reports "a desperately disappointing crowd
: of little more than 100". Anyone know where the two figures come from?

I suspect it was a typo - I was there and there was definitely more like 1000
than 100 there.
I didn't think it was a dissapointing attendance in fact I was surprising there
was more than 10 people there given the lack of local advertising.

Graham

--
Ryan O'Neill

I was there. I could see approximately how big the crowd was. I can't
put my hand on my heart and say there were exactly 1147, as announced
on the PA, but I do know there were a lot more than 100. Believe me -
I sometimes go to see Carlisle and I know what a crowd of 100 looks
like :-(

All the best,

Nick

Nick Thompson Medical Communications
Glasgow, Scotland